Dr Jonathan Heales

Senior Lecturer

Overview

Jon Heales primary research interests focus on the evolutionary phase of the information system's life cycle, the business value of information systems, software and music piracy, social and national cultural impacts on decision making and technology acceptance, and incentives in Information Systems Development. Research presentations at international conferences include the International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS), Americas Conference on Information Systems (AMCIS), Pacific Asia Conference on Information Systems (PACIS), and the Australasian Conference on Information Systems (ACIS). Jon is a CPA and is past Editor in Chief for the Australian Journal of Information Systems (AJIS). Jon has more that 50 refereed international publications in conferences and journals, including the Information Systems Journal (ISJ), Accounting and Finance (A&F), Information and Management (I&M), Journal of Information Systems (JIS), International Journal of Accounting Information Systems (IJAIS), Communications of the AIS (CAIS), Journal of Software Maintenance and Evolution (JSME), Journal of Global Information Technology Management (JGITM), and Australasian Journal of Information Systems (AJIS).

Jon’s CPA and industry background has seen him focus on teaching computer auditing and the management of information systems. He now teaches Operations Management and Business Value of Information Systems on the MBA program (UQ’s MBA is ranked 16th in the world and number one outside of Europe and North America by The Economist). His recent MBA Immersions to China and India have seen him take a keen interest in “Doing Business in Asia.”

Memberships:

CPA Australia, Member of the society, one of the world's largest accounting bodies with a global membership of more than 150,000 members.

Australian Computer Society, Fellow of the ACS. The professional society for Information Systems and Computing professionals.

Association of Information Systems (AIS), Member of the society. The society caters primarily for academics, and is the premier society for IS academics

Past Member of Institute of Internal Auditors - USA and UK.; Computer Society of South Africa; Institute of Accounting Technicians South Africa.

Research Interests

Business Value of Information SystemsWith Acklesh Prasad, we recognised the need to examine the business value of information systems. Over the years much study has gone into this area in an effort to justify expenditure on information systems. This research has progressed very well, resulting in 6 A-ranked Journal publications, 11 A-ranked Conference publications, with a total of 69 Citations (Google Scholar). This work continues, and will continue to be a very fruitful area for research.

Information Systems EvolutionThe thrust of my PhD, and research to date, has been concerned with the volatility and value of IS (likelihood of replacement), and the relationship between volatility and the predictability of IS replacement. Despite the fact that 80% of all Information Systems (IS) costs are incurred during the maintenance/evolution phase, the field has only been researched on a sporadic basis to date. The area is currently enjoying a resurgence of activity as researchers try to link various activities occurring during the IS maintenance phase to the success of IS implementation, the economic returns from IS, and the factors affecting IS replacement. Several papers have recently been published that deal with various aspects of IS volatility, and as a result IS volatility is seen as being an important factor in IS change. One paper from my PhD on volatility was accepted at the ICIS2000 conference. The second paper from my PhD was rejected on the third round at ISR. My focus is revising the paper for re-submission during my sabbatical in 2015 to another top tier journal and plan to further extend my research in this area. In particular, to extend the ontological work from my PhD and expand representation theory to the application of knowledge maintenance in organizations. I also plan to expand this area of research to better understand how to maintain systems in the electronic and mobile commerce domain.

Organisational and National Cultural Influences on IS AdoptionI am currently examining the effects that national culture has on aspects of Information Systems adoption, development and implementation. I am working with three colleagues in the USA. The research to date has resulted in publications at AMCIS2003, AMCIS2004, and submission of a paper for AMCIS2005. A paper emanating from AMCIS2003 was published in the Journal of Global Information Technology Management in 2004. Further work was done on my sabbatical in 2006 and that has resulted in the submission of a paper to ISJ, and subsequently to EJIS (Under review), and MISQ (under review).

Formative AssessmentFormative assessment is seen as a process that accommodates learner inputs to improve learning. Improvements in technology and changing learner requirements challenge educational institutions to address learner needs. Some of these challenges include facilitating online learning and accommodating learner inputs. Addressing these needs helps learners to be effective and the educational institution to be a successful educator. Recent developments in online learning can better accommodate formative assessment in virtual learning environments. We seek to understand the role of formative assessment in virtual learning environments by reviewing and refining formative assessment from a constructivist learning perspective. This research synthesizes our understanding of the role formative assessment plays in virtual learning environments and provides a theoretical foundation for further development of formative assessment.

Information System SuccessA related area of interest is the success of Information Systems (IS) projects. Building on work of Yetton (2000) who attempts to explain inconclusive results of research undertaken on IS success and its relationship with management support, I examine the relationship between user incentives and IS implementation success. Work on this project was initiated with Corina Raduescu, a masters student whom I supervised. To date, three publications have emerged from the research. The first was presented at the AMCIS2004 conference in New York in August, 2004. The second has been presented at the ECIS2005 conference in Regensburg, Germany, in May, 2005. The second paper revisions were completed and the paper was submitted to the 3rd International Research Workshop on Information Technology Project Management (IRWITPM2008). We are currently revising the paper for submission to the European Journal of Information Systems.

Research into Teaching ISFor some time undergraduate students’ knowledge and level of skill in information systems has been changing. This makes the structuring of course content, and determining the depth of knowledge required for an introductory course in information systems very difficult because of the students’ wide diversity of skills and knowledge of computers. In an attempt to improve our knowledge of these factors I have been conducting longitudinal research into this area.
Over five years I collected data relating to the level of skill and knowledge of students entering tertiary introductory IS courses at the University of Queensland, Griffith University, and ANU. A paper reporting the findings was first presented at the AAANZ 2000 conference, and has subsequently been accepted for publication in Accounting and Finance, an A Journal.

Research into PlagiarismMy ICIS2000 conference paper (from my PhD) was plagiarised and published in the Journal of Software Maintenance and Evolution. There are a variety of issues emanating from this unfortunate incident. Working with Prof. Joey George and others on an AIS committee to examine how Plagiarism is dealt with by the AIS, the committee drafted recommendations that were adopted by theAIS. This work resulted in a CAIS A Journal publication
Further work can result in a good paper by dissecting the theoretical aspects of the plagiarist, examining his modus operandi, and making recommendations to prevent such activities in the future, and to help detect them when they occur. I hope to address this over my proposed sabbatical in 2015.

Qualifications

Graduate Certificate in Education, Queensland University of Technology

Prasad, Acklesh and Heales, Jon (2010) On IT and business value in developing countries: A complementarities-based approach.
International Journal of Accounting Information Systems,
11 4: 314-335. doi:10.1016/j.accinf.2010.09.001

Heales, J., Cockcroft, S. K. S. and Raduescu, C. O. (2004) The influence of national culture on the level and outcome of IS development decisions.
The Journal of Global Information Technology Management,
7 4: 3-28.

Heales, Jon, Cockcroft Sophie and Trieu, Van-Hau (2017). The influence of privacy, trust, and national culture on internet transactions. In: Gabriele Meiselwitz, Proceedings of the 9th International Conference, SCSM 2017, Social Computing and Social Media Human Behavior.
9th International Conference, SCSM 2017 Held as Part of HCI International 2017, Vancouver, BC, Canada, (159-176). 9 - 14 July 2017. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-58559-8_14

Le Thi Quynh, Nga, Heales, Jon and Xu, Dongming (2014). Examing significant factors and risks affecting the willingness to adopt a cloud-based CRM. In: Fiona Fui-Hoon Nah, HCI in Business - First International Conference, HCIB 2014, Held as Part of HCI International 2014, Proceedings.
1st International Conference on HCI in Business, HCIB 2014 - Held as Part of 16th International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction, HCI International 2014, Heraklion, Crete, Greece, (37-48). 22 - 27 June 2014. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-07293-7_4